A TREE SPROUTS FROM A SINGLE SEED

It is like a baby implanted in a mother's womb, incubated and nurtured a full life. A seed is dropped on the ground by a bird, through a storm or from the waste products of a feeding animal and the seed is eventually covered by dirt. With heat strong enough and a released potential energy, the seed opens up and shoots out tentacles refusing to move out of the area. For days, the energy stored previously long ago in combination with other factors are now released to nurse the infant roots that are now emerging and looking for food in the dirt. Soon, the roots become stronger and start feeding profusely to nurse another part of this early life of a growing tree. Now, the seed case had been discarded, the roots are firmly attached to the ground and the new born that sprouts out of the seed is ready for a full life. In no time, the art of breathing, manufacturing, transportation of water and nutrients as food are fully developed. Henceforth, the sun, rain, and air will play a big role for the young Iroko tree. As for the leaves, their greenish properties are what they will use to harness the sun's energy through photosynthesis. Where this young and vibrant tree was brought to life, others had already matured and are confident to stay alive for many years on the earth. If the humans don't come calling to cut or totally destroy and the other animals don't feed on it, our young tree then begins to grow at full speed, becoming strong and nurtured by underworld of percolating water nitrogenous wastes from the earthworms. Earthworms? Yes. How can those roots feed the tree successfuly with many confronting odds? The dry leaves falling off of the matured trees in the forest, the discarded branches of the other trees, the birds droppings on the floor of the forest, those shedding skins of the forest snakes, the waste products left behind by those snails mixed with last year heavy down pour of rain and the decayed falling tree brought about by the strongest storm recorded years back have all been worked on and rolled into a black manure soil, rich in nutrients through tens and hundreds of burrowing earthworms! All of these will become the source of nutrients for our young tree. On watching how vibrant the tree has become, one sees a young tree full of life. It is not going to be a stunted specie, therefore, it needs to find its way up and above all trees. The penetrating rays of the sun within the forest will not be enough for the Iroko tree. It must feed fast, grow fast and strong among the roots of minor trees. Around that would have to be compromised and die off in the process to give way for an Iroko roots. When you have one or more of the same tree, then, interlocking compromise must be the order of nature. The roots of the Iroko tree will cross paths, they will have to decide on where to point their branches, geotropism, phototropism become a path of survival - survival of the fittest. Now, you could wonder how those nutrients and water are transported from those microscopic cells of those roots to miles up there to feed the branches and nurture the leaves of the giant Iroko. The same way humans develop their venous and arterioles existence, so also the tree had refined and perfected survival thousands of years to this day. That tree will breathe, eat, drink, manufacture, store foods and produce flowers and seeds all for survival.

Photosynthesis that is now been duly copied by humans in harnessing sun's energy by using voltaic cells or solar panels had been thought off and perfected by those trees for years. When you see a tall, strong and heavy trunks of an Iroko tree, think of how it got to be so. When you enter a thick forest during a summer day and you encounter a cool, wet, serene or a noisy atmosphere by happy birds, romantic animal calls and activities within the forest, think of natures gifts and of course Iroko befitting empire. The world is now crying for green revolution, realising the need to give nature its befitting accolades. The oxygen and carbondioxide air exchange between plants and animals, a delicate balance of nature, must be respected and guarded diligently, otherwise our planet earth might be doomed. Plant a tree and save a life.

Written by Dr.O Almaroof